The importance of changing up your workflow

So today’s post is a little less project-focused and a little more motivational… Either way, I hope this’ll be a worthy read.

I’ve been working on a new, as of yet unannounced Doom map over the last week or so. It started out as an idea to make a soul-crushingly hard map, but it has now turned into an experiment with a new workflow.

I’ve never been a particularly systematic person when it comes to designing Doom maps. My workflow was always very random, to say the least. There wasn’t any cohesion as to what I was doing – much less was there any sense in what I was doing. My usual workflow would be as follows: make a room/corridor, detail it, stuff it with monsters and ammo, rinse and repeat.

With this new map, however, I have a different workflow planned out: do the entire map layout first, add detail next, and finally implement gameplay. It’s cohesive, it’s less chaotic – and most importantly, it’s an experiment.

And you know something? Experimenting with that workflow has actually helped in that I have a clearer vision of how I want the map to look in terms of aesthetics. Separating visuals from gameplay in this way lets me think about the two aspects independently without them overlapping.

Before, I wouldn’t know how to make my maps look beautiful and play decently at the same time. But now that I’m trying out a new workflow, I hope this one will.

The bottom line: don’t be afraid to change up your workflow once in a while. It has more benefits than it has drawbacks.